


We Meet Again

by LittleSweetCheeks



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU, Angry Jack, Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Loss, Post-Canon, Reunion, Team as Family, missing person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 08:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14209662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSweetCheeks/pseuds/LittleSweetCheeks
Summary: "Who are you?"





	We Meet Again

Dee turned the key in the lock of her neighbor’s front door, calling out as she stepped in so as to not startle him. His hearing wasn’t the best and she’d startled him before, the look of panic on his face had made her heart break. “Adam! It’s just me, no need to panic!” By the time she’d made her way to the kitchen, he was shuffling in, dressed in worn pants and a faded button down. “You didn’t have to rush in, I’m just making a shopping list.”

The older man smiled fondly at her. “Delores, I told you you don’t have to do that.”

They’d had this argument before, every week since she’d moved into the bungalow beside his a year before. “And I told you I need someone to worry about besides Zsa Zsa and Zeppelin.” She found the pen and paper and began to make notes.

He creaked into a wooden kitchen chair with a grunt. “And how are the royal felines today?”

Dee chuckled. “Snobby as always. I only exist to fill their bowls or empty their boxes.” She waved a hand in the air. “I’m practically the hired help in my own home. So, humor a lonely old woman and let me do your grocery shopping without a fuss.”

That made Adam laugh, Dee was far from old, he was old enough to be her father. “Fine. I was thinking of spending the day out in the hammock, care to join me for some afternoon lemonade and apple pie when you get back?”

“I’d love that.” She turned back to working on the list, watching and listening to the older man as she moved around him. Dee worried about him from the first day she’d moved in, an old man with no family around, living on his own. She didn’t know much about him yet, he somehow always managed to turn any personal conversations back onto himself. Finishing her list, she pressed a daughterly kiss to his head of salt and pepper hair and bid him goodbye, letting herself out.

During her entire shopping trip, Dee wondered about Adam. He reminded her of her own father in a way. He was stooped as he walked, but there was still a look about him, something that made her dream he’d been someone important once upon a time. Maybe in the military or something. Shaking her head, Dee chuckled to herself, she’d always been a dreamer, her mind wandering into the clouds instead of staying down on earth.

She’d met him within a few days of moving in to her place, sort of. She’d seen him in the back yard, but he hadn’t come over and introduced himself at all. Dee had asked around to the other neighbors about him, but it seemed hardly anyone knew anything about him. Only one had remembered when the old man had moved in several years before, as alone then as he was now. She’d learned there’d never been anyone who came to visit, not that the rest of the street knew about, and Adam had never gone away on vacation. In fact, he rarely left the house or yard at all. He went to the grocery store maybe twice a month, it seemed he had no pet to care for or get him out. He was a mystery.

The little Dee had gotten out of Adam in the time they’d been neighbors made her believe he’d always had a lonely life, it didn’t sound like he’d ever had much in the way of friends or anything anyway, and she thought that had to have been the saddest live to lead. To be so nomadic that no one would miss you if you were gone.

Making her way an hour later back to Adam’s house she let herself in, peeking out the back window to check on him before tucking the food away. Chewing her lip, Dee wondered about him, her wonder making her veer further into the house instead of going straight to the back yard like she should have. Adam often spent his days tucked into the small room he’d converted into a little office and she figured there would be some clue as to who he was in there.

Alone, Dee wandered the house as Adam napped outside. Letting curiosity get the better of her, Dee wandered into his office and poked around, unsure what she was looking for. Most of the office was filled with books, many different genres were sorted on the shelves. Pausing a moment, she thought about what Adam had taught her one day, to take in the details. Adam was taller that her by more than a few inches, moving his eyeline up one more shelf. She looked up until just left of center she noticed there were eight books all by the same author. Which meant either the topic, or something else, was important enough that Adam had bought and kept them. Tugging one off, she flipped through and found it was a signed copy.

_“Aaron- Look what happens when you force me to take all my vacation time, another best seller! If I wasn’t certain I was your best friend, I’d think you were trying to force me to retire for good just to be rid of me! -Dave”_

Flipping the cover shut, Dee searched for the author’s bio on the back and found the name, David Rossi. She’d heard of him, a retired FBI agent. Pushing the book back into place, she pulled out another.

_“Aaron- Try not to use this one as a doorstop, huh? It took me a lot to write. -Dave”_

Dee chuckled and then frowned, replacing it and finding another.

_“Aaron- Here’s a copy to hold up that new marksman plaque I know you won’t hang like a normal person. -Dave”_

It hit her all at once. All the books were signed to an Aaron instead of an Adam. Leaving it back in it’s spot, Dee turned in the room. An award would be something someone would keep, if it existed. Pausing, she remembered there was a file cabinet in the closet. She’d asked Adam about it once, but he’d just shrugged it off as old paperwork. Taxes and such. Glancing out the window, Dee crept to the closet and pulled open a drawer. The first was filled with paperwork and her curiosity wasn’t strong enough to rifle through it just yet. Moving to the next drawer, she found more paperwork and then at the back, a plaque. Lifting it up, she saw it was a marksman award.

“What are you doing?” A hard voice demanded from the doorway. Dee hadn’t heard him come in.

She turned around. “Who are you?”

He didn’t even blink, his hard stare pinning her in place. “Why are you in this room?”

Fear gripped her. She had no idea who this man was. Why would he lie about his name? “I- I have to go!” She took off at a run.

“Delores!” He shouted, trying and failing to chase the much younger woman through the house. “Wait!”

With a slam of the door, she was safely outside and bolting for her own home. Trembling, Dee locked every door and window of her house, breathing hard as she sank onto her bed. There had been a look in his eyes, a dangerous one, she wondered just what sort of person he really was to have such a look hidden away. And then she remembered, the award had been for shooting, if she remembered right by the words used, it was some sort of distance shooting. Standing, Dee rushed to close the curtains on that side of her room, their houses sat close enough together that she was worried.

As the afternoon shifted into evening, Dee tried to push it out of her mind, but she couldn’t. What else was he lying about? Maybe he was faking being old and slow. Maybe he was hiding from something. The books had been from an FBI agent, maybe they had been a taunt? Could her neighbor really be someone hiding from the FBI? She wasn’t sure anymore.

Locked in her bedroom, Dee fell into a restless sleep, dreaming over and over about the horrible things that could happen with a dangerous criminal next door.

==

For three weeks, Dee avoided her neighbor. It wasn’t hard, she wasn’t sure he’d stepped outside since. She did miss visiting with Adam, or whoever he really was, but she couldn’t ignore the fact she was possibly in danger by visiting him. Any time she thought there was movement in one of his windows, she ducked inside until in the fourth week, she realized she hadn’t seen any movement in several days.

An entire afternoon went by as Dee paced, at war with what she should do. Instinct was telling her to not risk it, she could die maybe if she went back now, but another part of her was worried. What if something had happened to her neighbor? He could have gotten hurt, and with no one to check up on him… Dee didn’t like to think about it, so in a rush, she took off to Adam’s house and let herself in.

“Adam?” She called out, nervous. “Are you home?” The house was silent. She crept through the house, peering carefully into a room before entering. Adam didn’t seem to be home. Drawn again to the office, Dee spotted several photo albums at the bottom of a shelf in the corner and pulled one out. In it were photos of a woman and child, the photos looked old. About halfway through the book, the woman stopped appearing and the boy didn’t look as happy. “Who are you, little one?” She asked to herself. “And why are you so sad?”

A sound from somewhere else in the house made her head snap up. Maybe Adam was home after all. Tugging out one of the last pictures of the woman and child, she tucked it in her pocket to deal with later. She had to know. Pushing the binder back into place, Dee carefully got up and carried on her search.

In the bathroom off the master bedroom, she found her elderly neighbor crumpled in the floor of the bathtub, cold water showering down on his shivering body. “Oh my god!” She cried out, shutting the water off and grabbing for her phone to call an ambulance. Whoever he was, he didn’t look very good.

==

Once the paramedics had collected Adam, Dee headed home, locking the house behind her. She fired up her computer and pulled out the photo she’d taken, brushing her curious cats aside before typing the first names that were on the back into a search engine. Nothing of any use came up, so she tried again. Still nothing. Next, she tried the woman’s first name plus FBI and buried on the fourth page of the search results was an article from over twenty years before. And with the article was a photo of a woman, the same woman in the picture she’d taken. “Haley Hotchner… Who are you?” She read the article with a gasp and then ran the name again through the search engine, this time getting more results. The results were vague about her death, but it had been ruled murder and Dee’s heart sank further. “Who killed you?” One of her cats pushed into her lap. “Who killed her, do you think Zep? Do you think Adam could have done it?” The cat just butted his head against her chin.

“Yeah, I don’t know either. This says the FBI was investigating it.” Moving to the next article, she scanned the words, this one also included that it was suspected her death was linked to a prolific serial killer. “Oh, Zep, who is this man we’ve been talking to? Surely he didn’t do all this?” Tears pricked her eyes. “You think you know a guy.” Then she found an obituary for the woman and it listed leaving behind a son and other assorted relatives. “You must have been her son then, little guy. But you would be an adult now. Maybe.” A horrible though came to her mind. “Unless someone killed you too.”

Wracking her brain, Dee remembered the books that had been written by the FBI agent. “David Rossi, maybe you would know.” A quick search found an email address that went through to his agent for his books and she debated. If she was wrong, he would think she was a nutcase, surely.

But if she was right…

==

Dee spent a week debating whether or not to send the email. The man was up in years but still made a couple appearances a year. Her neighbor, whoever he was, still wasn’t home from the hospital.

Finding the email link again, she typed a quick message- _Do you know anything about the death of a Haley Hotchner?_ It was a long shot, but Dee figured it was the only shot she had.

==

Another three days went by before Dee’s phone rang, a blocked call flashed across her screen. Her neighbor still wasn’t home from the hospital. “Hello?”

“Hello.” A male voice spoke. “Are you Delores Austin?”

“May I ask who’s calling?”

“My name is David Rossi and I believe you recently sent me an email.”

“Yes!” She quickly calmed herself. “Yes, Sir, I sent you an email.”

She heard him clear his throat. “May I ask why?”

“Oh. I- I’m not positive. I have a neighbor, I moved in next door to him last year. He introduced himself to me as Adam but… Adam fell a couple weeks ago, he’s still in the hospital.” She took a steadying breath. “I think he’s just banged up. But…well… Before that, I got nosey in his books and things and found that he had all of yours. The books were all signed to an Aaron. He caught me and got angry and I ran out of the house and then…And then I thought maybe he’d left so I went back and looked for more clues.”

“You broke into his house?”

“Oh, no. He’d given me a key. I found an album of pictures of a woman and a kid and I took one… I, uh… I stole one. It was after that that I discovered Adam had fallen and gotten hurt.”

“A photo?”

“Yes. It was labelled Haley and Jack. I did some searching and found a picture of the same woman in an article about a woman who was murdered. Sir? It said it might have been a serial killer and… Am I in danger? Are these trophies or something?”

Rossi sighed and rubbed his head, he hated how TV had portrayed criminal shows. “Miss Austin? Take a breath. The murderer who killed Haley Hotchner is dead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I was there.”

“Oh.” That was a relief. “Am I in danger?”

“You found this in someone’s house?”

“He told me his name was Adam Daniels. But… I think he’s lying.”

“Can you tell me about Adam?” He asked.

So, she told him what she knew.

==

Hanging up, Dave sagged into his chair. He was certain the email had just been from some crime fan looking for a scoop, he hadn’t even considered that it would be a conversation with a very level-headed young woman. Tapping his pen on his desk, he recalled the end of their conversation.

_Rossi sighed. “I haven’t heard anything about anyone related to that case in over a decade. What makes you think your Adam is connected?”_

_“There was the book and the pictures. There was one in one of yours books when I looked at it weeks ago. It was in an office; a bunch of people were in it and…” Something specific stuck in her mind. “The back said- for you, Boss Man.”_

_Dave’s breath stopped for a moment. The only way anyone would know that nickname was if they’d seen or heard it directly. “Where did you say you lived?”_

_“Wyoming.”_

_“And Adam lives alone?”_

_“Yes, Sir. No one has ever seen him get visitors or go on trips. He barely leaves the house.”_

_He wondered, if this Adam was who he thought it was, what had become of Jack. “I need to make some calls; may I call you back?”_

_“Yes, that’d be okay. Wait! I can email you a photo of him if I can sneak one. Would that help?”_

_“Oh.” He hadn’t thought of that. “Would you?”_

_“I think it’s time I visit him in the hospital, I’ll see what I can do.”_

Dave swore he wasn’t stalking his email, waiting for the right one to come through, but when his inbox pinged hours later, he instantly opened the new message. “I’ll be damned.”

==

Dee was freaking out, had been freaking out for ten days. She’d sent the snuck picture to the author and had gotten a return message simply telling her not to mention their conversations to Adam, but that the former agent wanted to assure her she wasn’t in any danger. But then he’d said he was having it looked into and she would be seeing him soon.

That hadn’t made her feel any better. If she wasn’t in danger, why would an FBI agent, former or not, be coming?

Two days after the message, her neighbor had come home, a little worse for the wear, with a home health aid caring for him. Dee had considered flagging one of the women down and warning them about their patient, but then she had no proof they were in danger, just her own personal fears.

She was headed into a fresh panicked tizzy when her doorbell rang. Smoothing out her shirt, Dee opened it to find a small gathering of people on her front step and front and center was the author.

“Miss Austin, may we come in please?” He asked. “We’ll explain everything.”

==

Dee, with the help of the woman who’d introduced herself as JJ, made sure everyone had a drink before finally taking a seat. “Agent Rossi…”

“Please, call me Dave. My agent days are long behind me.”

“So, he keeps trying to say.” A woman who hadn’t introduced herself snorted.

Rossi gave her a dirty look but ended it with a grin before turning back. “I believe you’re right about your neighbor, but not in the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, I want to introduce all of us to you. Besides myself and JJ, this is Emily.” He pointed at the one who’d snorted at him. “This is Penelope.” He gestured to the one with a laptop. “These are Derek and Spencer. We all worked with another person at the FBI on a specialized team that hunted, among other things, serial killers.”

Her breathing sped up. “Serial killers?”

Dave held up a hand. “It’s okay, Miss Austin. I don’t believe you’re in any danger, none of us do. In fact, if your photo is to be believed, you may have helped us solve a decade old mystery.”

“A mystery?” She looked between them.

He nodded as Penelope turned around her laptop. “This was the other member of our team. He vanished due to a set of circumstances over ten years ago now and we never heard from him or his son again.” She tapped another key. “And this is what an age progression I’ve kept up on would have guessed he’d look like.”

Dee was speechless. “That’s Adam.”

“That’s what we thought too. Only… His name isn’t Adam Daniels, like you suspected.” Emily answered. “His name is Aaron Hotchner.”

She thought a moment. “So, the woman I asked about…”

“Was his wife.”

A hand came to her mouth, mind whirling. “Oh!” She didn’t know what to think. “I… I don’t…”

“If we’re right…” The man, Derek, spoke. “There’s another question we have to get answered.”

“What’s that?”

“If Aaron’s here…”

“Where’s his son?” The last man, Spencer, finished.

==

Dee was nervous as she knocked on her neighbor’s door and waited for the nurse to answer. “Hello.” She greeted when the woman appeared. “I’m Delores, from next door, I was wondering if Adam was up for some company?”

“Let me go ask.” The nurse stepped away as Dee turned back toward Dave, the one person who’d been elected to escort her over.

“What if I’m wrong? I’ll be so embarrassed.”

“Hey, if that’s the case, I’ll explain to him everything and it will be okay.”

The nurse returned. “He’s awake.” She pushed the door further open. “In the bedroom. Please keep in mind he’s had several surgeries related to his fall, his body’s been through a lot.”

“Thank you.” Dave gave her his best smile as he followed Dee to the doorway and waited.

Dee entered the room on her own, taking in her elderly neighbor. “Hi, Adam.” Her voice cracked on his name. “How are you?”

His eyes slowly opened. “Dee…” He smiled softly. “I’m sorry if I ever scared you, it wasn’t my intention.” His eyes closed again.

She took a seat by his bed. “I… There’s someone here who I… They, he wanted to see you…” She kept her eyes trained on his face.

“Aaron.” Dave finally spoke from the doorway, bringing attention to himself.

Dee watched as Adam’s eyes snapped open this time, wide and locking instantly on the man behind her. “Dave.”

Dave’s face was awash with emotion as he stared down at his friend. “Aaron…” There was no mistaking it in person, the sound of his voice, his eyes, the way his hair still fell across his forehead in that one spot like it refused to play by all the rules. “It’s good to see you.”

“How… How’d you find me?”

“Dee contacted me.” He wasn’t sure where to start. “I’ve missed you, Aaron. It’s been a long time.”

The man on the bed frowned. “I know.”

“Aaron…” He swallowed. “Where’s Jack?”

“Jack?” Dee looked between them. She remembered the name as the boy from the photo.

Tears filled Aaron’s eyes. “I don’t know.”

==

Dee had gone back eventually and had brought the others back to Adam/Aaron’s living room, unsure where she now fit into everything until the youngest, Spencer she had to remind herself, stepped toward her. “You mentioned photos and things to Rossi?” She turned, they were all watching her now.

“In his office. I can show you.” She waited for him to nod before leading him there. “The books that were signed by Mister Rossi are up here and the albums…” She pointed. “There’s a file cabinet with some awards and… I never even knew he’d been married or had a kid. I never… I’ve been coming over almost every day for a year and didn’t know any of this about him.”

“I understand, you must have been terrified when you started to suspect he wasn’t who he said he was.”

“Yeah. I… I searched the woman in the picture. Haley? I read about her death and… I really thought he might have been the serial killer who killed her. There was never any mention of who did it.” A tear escaped down her cheek. “Can you tell me about him? About Aaron? I’ve only ever known Adam and he’s… he’s always seemed so alone.”

“He was our friend.” A voice said from the doorway, making both turn. There stood the remainder of the former agents. “We all worked together, most of us anyway, for about fifteen years. Dave, he knew him a lot longer.” Emily finished. “He was a great agent and an even better dad.”

“So, he had family and friends to worry about him?”

“Yeah.” Derek replied. “And we’ve been worried for a really long time.”

“Then why would he just walk away?”

==

The room had remained silent since Dee had left, it wasn’t the reunion Dave had imagined at all. He’d expected Aaron to be happy to see him, to see all his friends again, but he seemed upset by them being there. “Aaron, look at me.” Slowly, he watched his friend’s eyes open and glance his way. “I’ve missed my friend.” He watched as Aaron swallowed hard. “When Dee emailed me, I thought there was no way this person was inquiring with any good intentions. I’d started to let myself think you were…” He couldn’t finish. “Why didn’t you come back? Or at least call?”

“I thought you’d be mad too.”

“Too?”

Aaron nodded, his head hanging. “Jack hated me after… He tried to run away several times and then once we were released, he did run away. It took me six weeks to get him back. He’d changed his looks and everything.”

Dave frowned. “And then?”

“Once he hit eighteen, he wanted away. He told me he was going back to live with Jessica, but I don’t know… I’d heard from him once that he was in college and to not look for him.”

He tried to do the math. “So, how long has it been since you’ve seen him?”

“About… ten years.”

With a sigh, Dave chewed his lip. “Aaron…”

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

“The others want to see you.” It felt like a lifetime had past since he’d last seen his friend as well as no time at all. He didn’t notice the way time changed himself and the others, in his mind they still looked like they used to, but now, seeing Aaron after all this time, he could see the changes. “Please, Aaron? We’ve all been so worried about you.”

“Who came with you?” His voice was still soft.

“Everyone. We’re all here.”

==

JJ had gone in search of the nurse for some more information and found her in the kitchen. “Hello, my name’s Jennifer.”

The nurse smiled. “You’re really FBI?”

JJ pulled out the card that marked her as a retired agent. “Retired now, but yes, I was. Can I… Can I ask how he’s doing?”

“From what I understand, he took a fall in his shower and fractured his collarbone as well as a couple ribs, bruised up his hip, that sort of thing. Hit his head, you know. He couldn’t call for help and couldn’t turn off the water, so he was stuck in the tub with the cold water coming down, going in and out of consciousness.” She frowned. “They think he was there about three days.”

JJ’s heart sank.

“His neighbor turned up and found him. Mister Daniels is healing but given his poor health prior to this and the issues that came up because of it, he really needs to consider some sort of companion service from here on out.”

JJ started to say more, but Rossi appeared in the hallway. “Jayje…”

“Yeah?”

“Aaron…” He licked his lips. “Aaron agreed to see everyone.”

“It’s really him? After all this time?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh- okay, I’ll get the others.”

==

Dee watched as the group of strangers entered her neighbor’s room. It was weird still to think that the kind man she’d known for a year wasn’t really who he’d said he was. That he’d walked away from family and friends to be alone. Soft talking made her look up.

Penelope couldn’t help herself and wrapped him in a hug. “Oh, Boss Man, I’ve missed you so much.”

Aaron tried to smile. “Not your boss anymore.”

“No.” She gave him a sad smile. “But still my friend.”

He nodded, looking around at them all. “You didn’t have to come. You all have families, lives now…”

“Hey.” Emily stepped forward, filling the seat by the bed. “You are our family, Hotch.” She saw him flinch at the name. “Hey.” Her voice was softer this time. “We’re here because we want to be, don’t convince yourself otherwise. Rossi called me and said Delores had contacted him, he forwarded me the picture she took of you and it wasn’t never a question of whether or not I would come find you.”

Derek spoke up. “Emily texted me. She just told me Rossi found you and I was already packing a bag. Savannah was arranging for the kids.”

“I…” His voice cracked. “I’d decided I’d never get to see you again. Any of you.” He frowned. “Just like I won’t ever see Jack again.”

Penelope, who’d still been holding one hand of his, squeezed. “That’s not true either.”

“But…”

“I’ll find him, don’t worry.”

==

It had been decided that Morgan and Rossi would be the best two to talk to Jack. The group of friends had stayed in Wyoming for two weeks until Penelope and her powers of inquisition had managed to find out where Jack was living now, still in the DC area. Dee, now with a much better idea of who her neighbor was and had been, had taken on the job of making sure he stayed connected to his friends. His family, they’d stressed to her, they were his family, as they all went back to the East coast.

A week after returning, Derek and Dave had driven together to the small two-story home in the DC suburbs. Parked out front, they did their best to not see the similarities to a previous Hotchner home; the siding and white fence, the stone path and roses by the door. Approaching the door, they waited until a young man answered.

Dave was instantly taken back to when he’d first met Aaron, it was a carbon copy standing before him now. Jack’s hair had gone dark as he’d become an adult, his face had thinned, and his shoulders squared. If he’d been in a suit, the older man figured he’d have been a dead ringer for the man who’d raised him. “Jack.”

Recognition came slowly in Jacks eyes. “Uncle Dave… How is he?”

“You should go see for yourself.”

Jack frowned, making the men on his step think of his father even more. “Come in.” He let them in, leading them to the living room. “I haven’t… Is he still in Arkansas?”

“Arkansas?” Derek asked.

Jack nodded. “When I moved away, we were living in Arkansas. That’s where he was when I…” His voice caught, thinking of what he’d been like as a teen. “Before I went to college.”

“No. He’s in Wyoming. He’s been living under a different name until recently.” Dave’s heart was breaking over the trials the pair had been through. “We only just found him a few weeks ago.”

“Is he okay?”

“He’s… he got hurt, but he’s starting to do better. Being alone has taken its toll. I was hoping I could convince you to go see him, fix this thing between the two of you.” He started to say more, but a young woman with a baby in her arms opened the front door.

“Jack?” She questioned. “What’s going on?”

“Kelly.” He crossed the room to her. “These are friends of my dad’s. This is Derek Morgan and David Rossi.”

“You’re dad?”

He nodded. “They were just stopping by to let me know he’d gotten hurt, but he’s okay.”

“Oh.” She frowned, glancing at the baby in her arms.

“Who’s this?” Derek asked.

“This is Kelly, my wife, and our son, Mark.”

“You have a son?” Dave stepped closer to see the small boy. “He looks just like you Jack.”

Jack nodded. “Thank you for the update on my dad.”

“Will you go see him?”

“I don’t think I can. I have work and I won’t be away and make Kelly care for Mark alone.”

The words had a bite to them, accusing. They held a message that Dave received loud and clear- Jack wasn’t ready to forgive. “I’ll leave you my details, just in case.”

“I won’t change my mind, Dave. These past ten years, I made a life for myself, I knew what I wanted, and I found it. We’re happy. I won’t give that up.”

The two men nodded as they moved toward the door. “We understand.” Just as they were stepping out, Dave turned back. “Jack, can I at least ask?”

“Ask what?”

“What is the job that you do now?”

Jack hesitated at that, blinking quickly as tears tried to coat his eyes. His ducked his head a moment before looking up. “An attorney.”


End file.
